12 Weeks to Better Photography- Week Twelve

Aaaaannnnnnd, we're DONE! I hope that these past eleven weeks have taught you guys some useful info about photography...I know that I've learned quite a bit! This last week was mostly just a catch-up week to do any lessons that you missed.

I decided to talk about photography equipment this week. I think I've mentioned before that I have a Canon XS body. The main lens that I uses is a Nifty Fifty (50 mm with f 1.8). I HIGHLY recommend this lens for portraits, and it isn't too expensive! I also use a Lightscoop, which can't really replace a speedlight, but is nice to have nonetheless. In combination, the Lightscoop and Nifty Fifty are the biggest recommendations that I have for newborn photography.

In terms of post processing in Photoshop, I usually don't do a ton. Sometimes I lighten things up a bit, or use PW's Boost action, but I really do try to get things right straight out of the camera. PS- I don't know if y'all know that most custom camera settings to adjust things like contrast and saturation in camera. So, if you find that you're always bumping up the contrast on your photos, or that your camera shoots warm/cold, it might be worth it to adjust your color profile in camera!

12 Weeks to Better Photography- Week Eleven

This week was all about shooting in our own daily environment. The article included an awesome piece about photojournalism, and how sometimes a picture can be a great picture even if it isn't technically perfect--there is a difference between technically perfect and emotionally perfect.

The challenge for this week included three options:

1- Capture a small snippet of your life that usually goes unnoticed.
2- Create a visual record of your day
3- Share your favorite photos, and tell about the emotional connection that you have with it whether or not it's technically perfect.

Can I just say that I FIRMLY believe in this philosophy when it comes to photography--capturing the real moments. The kids in their normal clothes eating ice cream. Or jumping on the bed. Or a couple talking to each other in between the shots that we're taking. It's not about the formal set-up, it's about remembering our lives.

I've done #2 not that long ago with my Morning in the Life post, so I thought that I'd focus on numbers 1 and 3 today. I'll start with a set of photos that I have an emotional connection to--these four pictures are of me, Justin, Jesse, and Kait on this past New Year's Eve. Kait and I were both pregnant (I was HUGELY pregnant, obviously), and I think all of us were exhausted. But as usual, when we all get together, silliness ensued. And even though in most of the shots we're looking every which way, and none of us are smiling at once, these remind me of a photo booth series, and they make me laugh every time....especially the first one of Jess and Justin holding hands!

 Another picture with emotional connection is one that we have hanging up in our house. I tried to take a picture of the picture, so bear with me! The day after our wedding, we received this as a gift from our PLU friends. I can't remember whether this was actually from Sara, Lisa, or Ethan....I always think of all three of you when I think of who it was from. Anyway...

We were moving, so the picture is a little blurry, but I absolutely LOVE that about the shot. I think it captures that moment of us walking out of the church beautifully, and I absolutely treasure this photo.

And on to #1--Capturing a few moments in the day that usually go unnoticed:

Mom's Sanity:

Dad stopped by home for a minute: 

Learning to replace her own pacifier--and she even made sure to secure it on her nose:

Leave a comment if you're participating!

12 Weeks to Better Photography- Week Ten

Landscapes. What more is there to say, other than you want a large depth of field?

Honestly, these aren't new shots. They're actually from January 2009, on the very first day we owned a dslr camera. I could ramble on and on about the crappy weather, the lack of sleep Lizzy and I have had recently, etc. etc. All are true, but the fact is that I just didn't get around to taking a new picture this week.

Speaking of landscapes, have you seen all the different landscapes that were submitted for Pioneer Woman's Landscape assignment? Some of them look more like paintings than photographs, don't they? I've seen a couple of people mention that they seem a little over-processed. They are quite processed, but not in the way that you might think--they're a growing form of photography called HDR Photography, or High Dynamic Range Imaging. Basically, you take three versions of exactly the same photo--one normally exposed, one over exposed, and one under exposed. Those three images are then merged into one image, which hopefully results in a greater-than-normal range of color and detail. There's good HDR Photography, and there's bad HDR photography. You can see the range in the Flickr Pool here. It's not really my style, but a lot of people seem to love it, and it's interesting nonetheless.

12 Weeks to Better Photography- Week Nine

This week was all about portraits--something that used to be my least favorite part of photography (at one time, I HATED photographing people), and is now my favorite part of photography. The lesson gave some great tips about composure for photography. I wanted to share a few tips that work especially well for taking photos of kids, but also work with adults as you'll see with my lovely model:

First, have the person make ridiculously funny faces. Here's Justin pretending to be embarrassed by the idea of making faces. Don't let him fool you. Also, his dimples make me swoon.

And here he is being a "flower". Just for the record, his hand have been scrubbed. They are just stained like that.

The "flower" was great blackmail material and all, but what I was REALLY going for was just after the silly face. Because after making a ridiculous face, most people will either laugh or smile. Often both. And I love taking that "just after" shot, because you get a real smile instead of a fake one. And believe me, moms can tell the difference.

In my opinion, black and white is almost always best for portraits. I love to use Pioneer Woman's "B&W Beauty" action for a quick adjustment.

What about you guys? Do you have any tips for portraits?

Also, I've been having issues with MckLinky, so if you're participating, just say so in the comments section!

12 Weeks to Better Photography- Week 8

This week was all about shooting on the go--specifically busy kids, sports, and pets. The lesson offered a few tips for shooting things on the move. One thing to keep in mind is shutter speed--you'll remember from a prior lesson that by adjusting shutter speed we can elect to either freeze or blur action. However, sometimes when we're shooting in places like gyms or football fields, it just isn't possible to adjust the shutter speed the way that we want due to light.

In those circumstances, there are a few options:

Embrace the Blur--when you're shooting a moving object, the fact is that it's....moving. So sometimes it's nice to show a bit of that blur. For example, here's a football picture that's blurred out to the extreme. I didn't intend for it to be blurred (I was messing with settings on my camera), and even though it's a technically "bad" picture, I kinda like it. If I titled my photos, I would title it "Speedy Gonzalez"

But let's be honest...even though I think it's a funny picture and can't bring myself to delete it because I laugh every time I see it, it's not a great photo. And when we're talking about embracing blur, a happy medium is usually the best option:

Ouch.

Another option is to go with a fast shutter speed to freeze the action. Some of the football players don't like it when I freeze the action because it points out when they're using bad form. Or carrying the ball incorrectly. Or that no, the other team wasn't actually holding. However, this is often the type of shot that newspapers use, or that a student might use to send to a college recruiting them for sports.

I find that the same principles apply to shooting kids. Sometimes, you want to see their motion and movement. Sometimes, you want more of a portrait shot. The key to it all is to have a good enough understanding of your camera that you can take the type of shot that you want, and not just be happy with whatever auto gives you!

Also, when it comes to shooting sports, don't forget to turn your camera to the crowd every once in awhile. I love this shot that I got:

12 Weeks to Better Photography- Week Seven

I'm not going to say much this week, because my AC Adapter for my laptop (our only computer) just bit the dust. I ordered a new one which will hopefully work, but in the meantime I'm trying to conserve computer battery.

I will say this--when it comes to shooting in Macro, point and shoot digital cameras are usually better than DSLR's, unless you have a macro lens. I don't. That said, you can often "fake" macro with a good crop. For example:

Original:

Cropped: 

How did this week go for y'all? Any overall comments or thoughts about photography? Do you think you'll use any of these tips, or mostly just point and shoot? How do you usually use your camera--manual, full auto, or somewhere in between? 

PS- MckLinky has changed. So if the list doesn't show up like usual, just comment that you've participated!

12 Weeks to Better Photography- Week Six

This week's Photography lesson was all about shooting indoors. This can be tricky (between flash issues, white balance, etc), but it's something important to master. I don't know about you, but it's been snowing again lately, so 100% of my photos lately are indoors.

One of the tips that the lesson gave for this week was to try having your subject facing a window, with you standing in between the window and the subject. This will allow you to capture good catchlights in the eyes (PS--I think portraits are all about catchlights in the eyes).

Here's an example of a shot where Lizzy and I were both parallel to a window, with her turned slightly away from the window:

It's not a bad shot, but her eyes aren't as bright as they could be. And there are no catchlights. 

These next two shots were taken with Lizzy facing a window, and me in between her and the window: 

Ta-Da! Catchlights in the eyes!

I will note that I often take pictures with us parallel to a window (in all the pictures of her on a towel on the counter we are parallel to a window). I just try to make sure that she's angled towards the window!

What about you guys? What's your best tip for shooting indoors? 

12 Weeks to Better Photography- Week Five

I like to joke that the first rule in photography is to always keep your composure. This little play on words is true on several levels--when you're doing a photo shoot, you always have to be able to roll with the unexpected. But it's also important to make sure that your photos are composed well...because that's one thing that's much harder to fix than a lot of other aspects of photography.

I think that I usually have a pretty good eye for composure. This week, I decided to go back through some of my favorite photos, and see if I used any of the suggestions for composition from this week's lesson. I was happy to find that I did!

The Rule of Thirds: 

I tend to approach the rule of thirds a little differently than some people--rather than say that the face/focal point should be located at a point of intersection, I like to go with the approach that the bulk of the focal point should lie within three adjacent squares. For me, those adjacent squares ideally span two columns. Also, I'll never forget something that I heard over and over in DECA--that the eye is naturally drawn down and to the right, so it's best to place the important stuff in the lower right hand corner. I find that when I use the rule of thirds, I often place my focal point in that area.

Try A New Perspective:

Under this category, the lesson suggested using footprints or other lines to draw the eye to the photo. I think that the roads and linear graphics of the book do a nice job of drawing the eye up to Logan in this one.

Fill the Frame:

Last week in my "Photo of the Day" post, I pictured one of my favorite photos from a mini-session. Here's what I didn't say--the version that I posted wasn't the original. This was:

I still like the original, but there was something yellow in the original that kept catching my eye and drawing it away from this sweet girl. Also, her mom really wanted some portrait-like shots. So, a simple crop "filled the frame", and I ended up with this:

Keep it Simple--Eliminate Distractions: 

Since getting the nifty fifty lens, I find that I mostly do this with bokeh. In other words, I tend to shoot with an aperture setting that will give me a shallow depth of field, or a small point of focus. This blurs out the background (in this case, a very busy restaurant), and allows the attention to be drawn to the subject of your choosing. I guarantee that if I had shot this with a wider depth of field, it would have seemed really busy, and the focus would easily be drawn away from Lizzy.

As far as rules of composure that I break, I broke one that actually wasn't discussed in this lesson, but it's called "limb chopping". Basically, the idea is that when you're taking pictures, someone's limb should never be "chopped" out of a photo. If the head is in the picture, the whole head must be in the picture. If the arm is in the picture, the hand must be as well. And so on. I break this rule a lot. I admit that sometimes, this can make someone look like an amputee. But sometimes, I like how it looks. For example, the picture above of Logan (Try a New Perspective) would be considered "limb chopping" because the top of his head isn't in the picture. I guess now that I've pointed it out, it would probably be better if his whole head were in the picture, but did you really notice before I said anything?  The same is true of just about all of the shots in my post "The Counter Sessions", two posts ago--elbows are cut off, tops of heads are cut off, and so on. But to me, that doesn't matter, because it's the face and eyes that are the focus of the picture, not the elbows!

12 Weeks to Better Photography- Week Five

I like to joke that the first rule in photography is to always keep your composure. This little play on words is true on several levels--when you're doing a photo shoot, you always have to be able to roll with the unexpected. But it's also important to make sure that your photos are composed well...because that's one thing that's much harder to fix than a lot of other aspects of photography.

I think that I usually have a pretty good eye for composure. This week, I decided to go back through some of my favorite photos, and see if I used any of the suggestions for composition from this week's lesson. I was happy to find that I did!

The Rule of Thirds: 

I tend to approach the rule of thirds a little differently than some people--rather than say that the face/focal point should be located at a point of intersection, I like to go with the approach that the bulk of the focal point should lie within three adjacent squares. For me, those adjacent squares ideally span two columns. Also, I'll never forget something that I heard over and over in DECA--that the eye is naturally drawn down and to the right, so it's best to place the important stuff in the lower right hand corner. I find that when I use the rule of thirds, I often place my focal point in that area.

Try A New Perspective:

Under this category, the lesson suggested using footprints or other lines to draw the eye to the photo. I think that the roads and linear graphics of the book do a nice job of drawing the eye up to Logan in this one.

Fill the Frame:

Last week in my "Photo of the Day" post, I pictured one of my favorite photos from a mini-session. Here's what I didn't say--the version that I posted wasn't the original. This was:

I still like the original, but there was something yellow in the original that kept catching my eye and drawing it away from this sweet girl. Also, her mom really wanted some portrait-like shots. So, a simple crop "filled the frame", and I ended up with this:

Keep it Simple--Eliminate Distractions: 

Since getting the nifty fifty lens, I find that I mostly do this with bokeh. In other words, I tend to shoot with an aperture setting that will give me a shallow depth of field, or a small point of focus. This blurs out the background (in this case, a very busy restaurant), and allows the attention to be drawn to the subject of your choosing. I guarantee that if I had shot this with a wider depth of field, it would have seemed really busy, and the focus would easily be drawn away from Lizzy.

As far as rules of composure that I break, I broke one that actually wasn't discussed in this lesson, but it's called "limb chopping". Basically, the idea is that when you're taking pictures, someone's limb should never be "chopped" out of a photo. If the head is in the picture, the whole head must be in the picture. If the arm is in the picture, the hand must be as well. And so on. I break this rule a lot. I admit that sometimes, this can make someone look like an amputee. But sometimes, I like how it looks. For example, the picture above of Logan (Try a New Perspective) would be considered "limb chopping" because the top of his head isn't in the picture. I guess now that I've pointed it out, it would probably be better if his whole head were in the picture, but did you really notice before I said anything?  The same is true of just about all of the shots in my post "The Counter Sessions", two posts ago--elbows are cut off, tops of heads are cut off, and so on. But to me, that doesn't matter, because it's the face and eyes that are the focus of the picture, not the elbows!

12 Weeks to Better Photography- Week Four

Can I be honest for a second? If I were not hosting this 12 Weeks to better Photography extravaganza, I probably would have skipped this week's lesson. Why? It is about the flash, and I *hate* the flash. I just don't use it very often at all. And if I do use it, I often implore little tricks to make the flash look less harsh. For example, did you know that you can put your finger just above the pop-up flash to prevent it from popping up all the way, thus giving you a less harsh flash effect? Justin figured that one out. Granted, Canon would probably say that doing this would break my internal flash. But I don't care if it breaks, because I hate it.

Anyway, if you really need to use a flash and can't afford an external one (lord knows that I can't!), I would recommend checking out the Lightscoop. No, this is not a paid advertisement, and no, I didn't receive one for writing about it. It's just a product that I've used on my own accord, and think is a high quality solution.

Now, on to the pictures. For this week, I chose option two, which was to use the fill flash to eliminate shadows on the face on a bright day.

First up, no flash:

Have I mentioned that my child hates the sun? She certainly didn't inherit that trait from me!

Now, with a flash:

Honestly, I like picture one much better. Even if there are shadows on her face...because, um, shadows exist in real life. I don't like the second picture at all, and it was far and away the best of the "flash" shots. Maybe I need to try one of the other suggestions for using flash...

How did you all do this week?

12 Weeks to Better Photography- Week Three

 Whew. Week Three people! I hope y'all are learning as much about your cameras and photography in general as I am! This week's lesson was an exciting one for me--it's all about White Balance. I've read about White Balance before, but I will totally admit that it kinda always intimidated me. It was just kinda confusing. And did I want to adjust it in the camera, or shoot in RAW and change it in Photoshop/Adobe Bridge?

I'll be honest--I don't shoot in RAW all that often. Generally, only if I'm doing a professional shoot. RAW is just more work than I want to spend for everyday pictures, and my goal is to take great shots straight out of the camera, rather than having to spend a lot of time editing them. So for me, setting a custom white balance in my camera is the easiest way to do that.

Here's the basic idea--light comes in all different colors. Sometimes, like when we're indoors at night, the light can take on a yellow or orange tint that isn't necessarily visible to the naked eye, but is visible in pictures. For example, I know you all have taken a shot that's looked something like this:

And who says men can't multi-task. That's soda drinking/trying to get baby to sleep at it's finest! Except for that ugly orangeish tint, which is a byproduct of shooting on "Auto White Balance" mode. But wait....what if there was a way to tell my camera, "The light has an orange tint right now. This is what white looks like in this light...but please make it look like normal white."  There IS a way to do that. And it's simple as pie--take a picture of something white (like a piece of paper). That something white needs to fill the entire frame. It does NOT have to be in focus, just white, and fill the frame. Then set that picture of the white piece of paper as your custom white balance marker. This tells your camera how to adjust things so that the whites are white. And let me tell you folks, the difference is incredible: 

See that?! By telling my camera what white looked like in that particular light,  

I was able to take a shot at 9pm that looks like it was taken in the middle of the day! Wahoo!

PS- if you ever take your camera to shoot at a friend's wedding, do this. The bride will be forever thankful when her dress isn't blue. Just remember that as the light changes, you'll have to do a new custom white balance. 

Moving on. Most dslr cameras also have a few pre-sets. I think it's worth playing around to see if one will typically work in your house:

 

See, for our house, the white fluorescent setting at night gives a close approximation to natural light.

So, how did things go for y'all this week? Did anyone give a gray card a shot?

12 Weeks to Better Photography- Week Two

 

This weeks' lesson was on Shutter Speed and ISO. In general, it's easiest to think of ISO in terms of film--remember how you used to usually buy 400 film, but would occasionally buy 800 or 1600 if you knew it was a very cloudy day, or if you were shooting sports? The same applies here. ISO also has to do with how much light is used to expose the shot. To be honest, I typically let the ISO be automatically selected by my camera unless I know I'm dealing with a bright or low light situation (or if I'm shooting sports). This is one scenario where I think the camera does a better job than I would on manual--because if I were to select a higher ISO than I really needed, I'd lose quality and the picture would be more grainy. 

However, Shutter Speed is something that I absolutely do control. It's exactly what it sounds--how quickly the camera's shutter opens and closes in order to capture a picture. If I leave my shutter open for a short amount of time, the camera will essentially freeze anything that's moving. 

On the other hand, if I leave my shutter open for a longer period of time, anything moving may actually be moving more quickly than the shutter, which would create a blurred effect.

But keep in mind that shutter speed has a trade off in terms of light--the faster the shutter opens and closes, the less light is able to get in; on the other hand, if you leave the shutter open for 3 or four seconds, too much light may get in!

How did things go for y'all this week?